Conference Agenda

Using satellite observations of trace gases and aerosols, this project studies the air pollution in the most populous regions in China: the North China Plain (NCP) and along the Yangtze River. With a total population of about 700 million, these regions are amongst the most densely populated regions in the world. Human activities, traffic, transportation and heavy industry in these areas result in high anthropogenic emissions with a variety of adverse effects. Monitoring and analysis of air quality is essential to evaluate different factors (emissions and emission reduction policy, meteorological factors, atmospheric chemistry and physics) contributing to the pollutant concentrations. We have focused on the important components of air quality (AQ). The results of the work from last year will be presented.

We have derived the NOx and NH3 emissions over the populous areas in China. The impact of shipping emissions from rivers on AQ has been studied using the WRF chemical transport model. A sector attribution algorithm has been developed to distinguish soil NOx emission from the total NOx emissions derived from satellite observations.

The evaluation of proxies to detect the occurrence of new particle formation using ground-based remote sensing and in situ data was successfully completed using data from the Beijing-RADI site. The study on the evolution of AOD over China and the competition between anthropogenic and meteorological influences will use satellite data in combination with model simulations. FY-4A data are used for the study of cloud detection and aerosol retrieval.

The Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) has been launched on 28 May 2024 which is a satellite mission implemented by the European Space Agency (ESA), in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The EarthCARE satellite includes four scientific instruments: an atmospheric lidar (ATLID), a Doppler cloud radar, a multi-spectral imager and a broadband radiometer. EarthCARE provides simultaneous measurements of the vertical structure and horizontal distribution of cloud and aerosol fields, together with outgoing radiation. The EarthCARE products are constantly improved, reprocessed, and evaluated. The full data set was reprocessed to version BA in 2025. We have evaluated the ATLID L2a aerosol products using ACTRIS ground-based lidar measurements. We also managed to compared the EarthCARE aerosol/cloud products with measurements on the R.V. Maria S. Merian in October 2025.

Beside the lidar data, we compared the MSI cloud product to MTG FCI (Meteosat Thrid Generation Flexible Combined Imager) high resolution cloud product. The algorithms used to derive the MSI and FCI cloud products are very similar. The cloud height products from FCI and MSI were compared with the radar cloud top height in ACM CAP product.

In the Dragon 6 TACT project we will use the EarthCARE multi-instrument synergy products to study the aerosol, cloud, radiation interaction for some selected cases. In the first two years, we have evaluated the EarthCARE and FCI products and gain some insights. In our collaborations, various cloud, aerosol related studies are ongoing (especially the ACDL product), which are reported in several posters. In the oral presentation, we will highlight the progress in the second year of our project.